The present disclosure relates generally to information handling systems, and more particularly to an active pen system for use with an information handling system.
As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
Some IHSs such as, for example, tablet computing devices, mobile phones, laptop/notebook computing devices, and/or a variety of other computing devices known in the art, may be provided with an active pen that allows a user to provide inputs to the computing device by, for example, enabling direct digital “ink” input via the active pen's engagement with a display screen on the computing device to provide the user with a “pen-on-paper” experience with the computing device (e.g., the engagement of the active pen with the display screen causing graphical elements to be displayed on the display screen.) To enhance the “pen-on-paper” experience, active pens have been developed that allow the user to change their “brush stroke” or the “amount of ink” displayed in response to an active pen engagement with the display screen by applying more or less pressure to the display screen with a pen tip of active pen. In such systems, the pen tip may be configured to read the pressure when engaged with the display screen, and may then operate with the computing device to change the graphical elements displayed on the display screen so that those graphical elements may be displayed to appear like those of an actual pen, a marker, a brush, a pencil, and/or other conventional drawing tools known in the art.
However, engagement of the active pen with the display screen can compromise the user's grip and/or other ability to control the active pen. Furthermore, applying pressure through the pen tip to the display screen causes wear on the pen tip and the display screen, and resulting damage to the display screen caused by active pens is particularly problematic in devices that include relatively fragile flexible organic light emitting diode (OLED) display screens. Further still, some touch display screens are “touchless” or “virtual” in that the user does not have to actually physically engage the display screen with the user's finger or active pen in order to provide an input (as the user would on a touch display that requires physical contact.) As such, requiring a user to engage a touchless/virtual display screen with an active pen to determine pen tip pressure as discussed above defeats the purpose of such touchless/virtual display screens.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide an improved active pen system.